


Shades

by eggsinsunnyside



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Other, Supernatural Elements, This was based on a prompt but I'm deviating so much from it that it's barely even shown, a bit of death mention but c'mon it's nothing much freaking over, i'm actually writing this what the fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-15 06:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12315642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggsinsunnyside/pseuds/eggsinsunnyside
Summary: When a person or animal dies, their shadow freezes, darkening the place they died. Deaths are regulated to prevent excessive darkening, and the world is relatively free of shade, except for one place…





	1. Chapter 1

It was somewhere around afternoon when Ringo had decided in a spur of moment to run outside of the house and make Edd chase after the furry feline. Neighbors turned their head questioningly to the source of yelling and cries that is Edward Gold who is pursuing his rogue cat.

“Ringo no, bad kitty! Come back right now this instant!” Edd yelled out over his pants as his cat made a sharp turn to the right road, and the brunette almost stumbled over his feet trying to make a hard turn. 

It was a good thing he didn’t have to worry about losing sight of Ringo since the cat stuck out like a sore thumb with her grey coat against the brightness of the sunlight. Especially since there were only a few darkened spots that littered the sidewalks and road. Edd made sure to avoid those flatout and for a good reason too. 

The government here were very strict about deaths taking place in the state, with countless of regulations making up most of the state’s laws and all of those are about handling a living being’s life. To outsiders, it might seem rather oppressive to have even your own death out of your hands but to its people, it was common sense. Anybody could see why all the regulations about death is needed, considering when any person or animal dies leaves behind their shadow which darkens the place they died and it would never disappear at all. It wasn’t just their country either that suffered this strange shadow affliction as the entire world population had this as well. 

Every monarchy and governments all had their own ways of tackling the situation, but the most common way was to regulate the rate of deaths in order to prevent excessive darkening from happening. From that singular point, many rules and regulations had been created by the government to tackle the possibly threat of the entire world going black. Of course it didn’t stop people from killing each other, but it did significantly reduce the rate of murder and deaths. From the reduction in crimes happening, it was enough to tell the World Government that the several regulations of human life was functioning as intended, and was saving the human population and the world as the same time. 

Edd was brought out of his stupor when a cold wind blew at his face and finally did he notice that he was no longer in the streets of Dirdum Lane. The warm sunlight was gone and replaced by a cold draft in the room that once was a lounge. Dirty white sheets covered the furnitures from sight with a few cobwebs stuck onto the fabric and the wooden floor, with some of the floorboards pulled up and broken. The windows were boarded up too, the edges of the curtains dusty and mouldy from age. Overall, this looked like what you’d find in a stereotypical haunted house.

Edd shivered at the cool breeze brushing against his face and pulled his green hoodie closer to his face in an attempt to shield himself from the cold. “Ringo, where are you? Come out already!”

When there’s not a single sound to reply to his call, Edd decides to do what any protagonist in a horror movie would do and that is to explore the building in search of his objective. He just had to find Ringo though and then they could both get out of the place before Edd would really find out if the house was haunted or not. 

His sneakers never failed to make a creaking noise for each step he took, kicking up a bit of dust as well and sending them scattering in the musty air. Edd peered in every nooks and cranny of the lounge, looking underneath the dusty old furnitures and lifting up the sheets just enough to peer under the furnitures. He tried the upper level of the house, finding three doors presumably leading to individual rooms. He checked the first two, a bathroom and a bedroom respectively and checked any possibly hiding spots in both room.Yet there was no sign of Ringo, not a single hide or hair of his beloved cat.

“Ringo? Ringooo!” Edd called out more, opening one of the dusty cabinets in the dilapidated bedroom and was greeted with the sight of a spider colony. He promptly slammed it shut and let out an exasperated sigh, shuffling his way to the last room he had yet to check. “Oh Ringo, where’d you go?”

The last room wasn’t much different as the other bedroom he was in. There were a couple of furnitures in there with each of them covered by a dirty white sheet. Before he could get to searching the room, a voice somewhat deeper than Edd’s voice suddenly spoke up,“Who’s Ringo?” 

Edd let out a startled yelp, spinning around on his heel to face whoever was behind him and quickly adopted one of the karate pose he saw in a movie once. Before him stood a boy around his age, just a bit shorter than him and much paler than Edd. He donned a blue hoodie that looked slightly bigger on him, and grey slacks with black and white checkered shoes. His hair was brown and spiky, standing up high from his rather circular head. He kind of reminded Edd of a pineapple. 

Edd’s jaw dropped slightly when he realised something very crucial. Where the boy’s eyes should be was nothing but a pitch black void that looked like it could suck up all the light in the world like a black hole would. Edd could almost visualise little bright stars in those empty sockets and he almost forgot to breathe until the stranger spoke up. 

“Hey, gonna say something or what?” The eyeless boy frowned, folding his arms impatiently. Edd blinked, suddenly finding it in himself to breathe before letting the words stumble clumsily out of his mouth. 

“Oh um, sorry! I just- It’s my first time seeing someone without eyes.” He admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and ignoring the strange look the boy gave him. “Wow I didn’t think anyone lived here to be honest with how dusty and gross the place is.”

“This is my house.” The boy pointed out dryly, gesturing to the sheet covered furnitures.

“Oh.” Edd dumbly said and lets a moment of awkwardness submerge the two. “... It’s kinda homey?”

“Right…” The boy’s voice exuded nonchalance that it almost made Edd wince out. “So who’re you? Rude to barge into my house without telling me your name.”

“Oooh you have a point.” Edd nodded and held out his hand, a natural smile growing on his face. “I’m Edward Gold but everyone just calls me Edd. What’s your name?”

“... Thomas. I prefer Tom though.” Tom replied, keeping his hands in his hoodie’s pockets and frowned at Edd. “Aren’t you freaked out about something though?”

“Like what?” The brunette tilted his head curiously, his hand dropping back to his side. It took Edd a moment to register what Tom meant, and also a flat blink from the other. “Ooooh. Well sure, it’s definitely something you don’t see every day but I mean it’s not to scream about. If anything, they’re actually kinda cool.”

That had definitely caught Tom off guard as he had gawked at Edd and narrowed his eye sockets at him. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m not.” Edd argued indignantly. “Why’d I lie about your eyes looking cool? If I was, I’m pretty sure I’d be making my way out of here then.”

“Point taken.” Tom nodded, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. “So… Why are you here anyway? Didn’t anyone tell you to stay away from here because of stuff?”

Edd frowned and thought to himself for a while, searching for any memory about being instructed about staying away from anything. “... Not that I can remember. I remember my mum advising me to stay away from a box full of cola cans, although that never stopped me from having that soda goodness.”

Tom sighed and stepped aside. “I thought everybody would know by now but didn’t you know some folks died in here?”

Edd frowned and opened his mouth to speak up, but the words died in his throat once he laid his eyes on the floor. In the centre of the room where Tom initially blocked the view was a shadow - a shadow of a body to be exact. It was sprawled on the floor, unmoving and unbreathing. Still. 

Tom leaned against the wall nearest to the boarded up windows, watching Edd carefully with empty sockets. “That’s why people don’t come here usually. People died Edd, and they’ve left their mark here very clearly.”

Edd’s mind was still reeling back from the discovery and slowly he turned his face to Tom’s direction, his brows furrowing. “So then.. Why are you here then?”

Tom shrugged in response, turning his face to look at the windows and see through what little the cracks could show. “Someone has to take care of their remains.”

“There’s just-” Edd spoke up nervously.

“A shadow. I know.” Tom interjected with a tone Edd couldn’t identify but it was laced with something unpleasant. “But it’s not like I can really do anything for it except stick around in the dark like outside.”

Edd kept quiet at that, shifting uncomfortably the longer he stared at the darkened shadow shape on the floor, thoughts flooding through his head. The silence was starting to get stifling though and his mouth opened before he knew it. 

“It’s actually kinda bright outside you know.” Edd said, nudging his head at the window’s direction. “There isn’t a single spot of dark shade in the neighborhood.”

“Not unless you look for the right spots.” The boy in the blue hoodie quipped, looking back at Edd. “And if you meant bright as in the sun, then it’s already gone down.” 

“What-” Edd blanked and went up to the same window Tom was peering out of, gently pushing aside the boy to take a look for himself. “Ah man, I must’ve lost track of time!” A moment of realisation passed. “And I still haven’t found Ringo!”

Edd turned to look at Tom who was staring off in space and grabbed his shoulders. “Tom, have you seen Ringo? She’s about as big as my hand and has grey fur, and I came here to find her!”

Tom blinked once Edd was done talking and squirmed out of his grasp, looking mildly shocked. “I- Um, sorry. Could you repeat that Edd?”

“Have you seen my cat, Ringo? She’s about as big as my hand and has kinda light grey fur.” Edd repeated, holding up his head and cupping one in front of Tom’s face.

“Cat..?” Tom echoed numbly, rubbing his left shoulder slowly and nodded. “.. Right. Cat, I did see her scurrying under here.” He made his way over to the tallest furniture covered in a filthy white sheet, lifting it up just enough to reveal Ringo nestled underneath the object. The kitten opened her eyes once the cover was lifted and yawned quietly, getting on her four legs before clambering happily over to Edd’s legs. The artist took his cue to scoop the kitten in his arms, letting the feline knead the sleeve of his hoodie and faced Tom. 

“Thanks so much for finding Ringo for me. Mum would’ve killed me if I lost her already.” Edd chuckled sheepishly, securing his furry cargo in his arms. 

“... No problem.” Tom muttered, his face set back into the one of neutrality as the two made their way down to the front door and opened it. “You should probably get back. It’s getting dark.”

“Kinda funny too since I could’ve swore it was still day time when I came in here.” Edd commented idly, strolling out of the house. He paused and faced back. “Hey Tom?”

Tom had almost shut the door until Edd called his name, “Yeah?”

“Do you think I could visit tomorrow?” Edd asked curiously and for a while, Tom didn’t answer. The question lingered in the air uncomfortably, and Edd slowly began to wonder if he had overstepped his boundaries by the passing second. 

“Sure. That would be nice.” Tom finally answered, peering beside the small crack beside the door to let Edd see his empty eye sockets. Edd shot him a cheerful smile before trekking back home with Ringo secure in his arms, taking in the faint sound of a door shutting behind him. 

Edd looked behind him to see the building that he had somehow stumbled into but the darkening sky made it difficult to properly make out the shape of the building, so he gave up to do it tomorrow instead. After a brief scolding from his mom about being out for so long without any notice and an explanation about Ringo’s escape, Edd eventually tucked himself into bed. Ringo had long gone to sleep, curled up comfortably in the plush of her own bed, and left Edd to his own thoughts.

Edd wondered who Tom was and why he was living in a place that looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. The place looked abandoned and was even dusty. How could Tom stand living in a place filled with so much dust, Edd would never know. This was also counting that shadow back there, who did the shadow belong to, Edd wondered. The previous owner of the place? Probably, it’s usually what happens in haunted houses - an abandoned house always had something haunting about their old owners. 

However Tom said he was living in the house so technically it isn’t abandoned at all, just maybe poorly maintained. That still didn’t answer why Tom chose to live in a place where someone died with proof of their existence still there as clear as day. Edd scrunched up his face the more he continued to brainstorm the possibilities and reasons behind Tom living at the rundown house. Maybe he should ask Matt for ideas… Wait, he was going to meet Tom again anyway tomorrow. Maybe ask Tom first then Matt? Yeah, that seemed like a good idea and with that, Edd began to drift off to a dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile back up at Tom’s dusty home, he was lying down on an old couch, staring at his hand like it was a stranger. This shouldn’t be happening. No one had touched Tom like this, ever. Not as far as he can remember. Countless of people breaking and entering his home, the moment they see his eyes they would always run away and chalk it up as a bad nightmare. 

Edd didn’t though. He looked at Tom without flinching or looking away out of fear. He spoke so casually that someone could easily mistake the two as friends already. There was also the fact that he had touched Tom and actually wanted to come by tomorrow. As in, he wanted to talk to Tom again. Him, Tom. The monster that everyone fears for his lack of eyes and ghastly presence. 

The boy in the blue hoodie sits up abruptly and looks around the lounge with a frown on his face. It’s dusty and most of the floorboard nails have been rusted from age. The white sheets covering the furnitures also made the whole place look like it came out of some cheesy horror film. To sum it all up, the whole place was a total mess and he has someone who might actually like him coming over tomorrow. Tom internally groaned and got off the dingy couch he was resting on, before yanking the musty white cloth off and gagged at the amount of dust that flew off. 

Tom decides that he hates cleaning and if Edd doesn’t show up tomorrow, he’s going to haunt that green fucker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is based off the prompt by writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com. The link to the prompt is http://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/post/166211744750/when-a-person-or-animal-dies-their-shadow


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear the couch.

At exactly two in the afternoon, Edd ambled his way over to Tom’s house with Ringo safely tucked in his green hood. Imagine his mom’s surprise when he said he was actually going out and not just for the sole purpose of buying more cola in the house. She wouldn’t let Edd go and was crying tears of joy, saying how much her baby has grown up out of being an sociable yet withdrawn hermit.

 

Okay that was pushing the boundaries of truth, but it was close. In reality, she just shoved a couple of sandwich in his bag and told him to have fun, with the usual warning about stranger dangers. Edd just hopes Tom wouldn’t view him as being too friendly, that would be more awkward oh boy.

 

Now that the sun was up though and he wasn’t in a desperate chase, Edd had a better view of his surroundings during his trek to Tom’s house and especially the building. The whole place looked as old and dilapidated as its interior, and Edd wonders to himself again what was Tom doing in such a run down place. The lawn was overgrown at unattended, wild flowers and weeds sprouting all over the ground and breaking through some of the concrete foot path.  Ivy vines seemed to grow endlessly on the wall, spread all over the wood and wrapped around the columns. Under the light of the sun, the entire house looked rather lonely.

 

‘Probably like Tom too,’ Edd comments to himself as he sets Ringo down on the ground. He raised his fist against the old wooden door and contemplated whether or not to knock lightly or loudly. He shrugs to himself and lightly raps his knuckle against the aged timber. There’s a moment of silence before the door suddenly creaks open slowly… and Tom pokes his head out shyly.

 

“Edd! You actually came.” Tom noted, his brows raised in surprise as he comes more into view.

 

“Of course I’d come over! I asked in the first place remember?” Edd pointed out with a grin and gestured down at Ringo. “Even brought Ringo over. She hopped into my hoodie the moment I started leaving the house so guess that makes two.”

 

“Really now..” Tom eyes the kitten in mild curiosity and looked back up at Edd. “Good thing I decided to take the leap.” He muttered under his breath before stepping aside, and gesturing Edd and Ringo to come in. The first thing Edd realises about the lounge was that it was much more considerably cleaner than the last time he came here.

 

The floor was still caked with dust as if someone had decided to pour buckets filled with dust to the brim and just throw it all over the rickety floor, but many of the white sheets that had been covering furnitures earlier were removed. A large plush couch sat comfortably in the lounge, it’s red colour all but faded in time and some of the dust still clinging to the faded fabric. There was also a phonograph positioned near the couch and a decade old version of TV pushed up in front of the plush seat. Like it was really old, had the two little antennas and knobs to change the channel. An antique, his grandmother might call it and Edd might have to agree.

 

“I’m not sure if the TV still works.” Tom mentions when he sees Edd staring at the TV in particular, picking up the dusty old white sheet off the kitchen table and dragging it off to a nearby cabinet. “It’s old as heck if you haven’t already figured.”

 

“Forget old, my gran would’ve called this an antique. I mean, you never see these kinda TVs anywhere else but retirement homes.” Edd said with increasing interest.

 

“If your gran would call that an antique, then everything in this house would be way older than her.” Tom snorts as he haphazardly shoves the dirty sheet into the cabinet and slams the door shut. He pretended not to hear a thing when Edd snaps his head over to his direction.

 

“Did something just shut?”

 

Tom shrugged at Edd in response. “This house is old, things break all the time.” Even if he didn’t speak, Tom could tell that Edd knew he had did something to make the noise but decided not to pursue the answer.

 

The two plopped themselves on the plush couch, Edd letting out a chuckle as he and Ringo sunk into the couch’s cushions while Tom simply bounced on the surface, watching Edd and Ringo in amusement.

 

“God how deep does this couch go?” Edd laughed when he managed to stop sinking into the couch, peering up at Tom with a wide smile.

 

“So deep that it can reach all the way to hell.” Tom snorted, a lazy grin on his face and comfortably settling himself on the couch without sinking into the couch. Edd idly notices that Tom isn’t even sinking into the cushion and raises a brow at that.

 

“How do you do that?” He asked curiously, staring at Tom.

 

“Do what?” Tom repeated, furrowing his brows at Edd and sitting up properly.

 

“That!” The brunette wildly gestures at Tom’s legs. “You’re not sinking into the couch at all like I am.” He then waved his arms at himself where he was waist deep into the plushy seat.

 

“Oooh. Well that Edd, requires great skills.” Tom adopted a sage like pose and stroking his nonexistent beard. “Over the centuries, I’ve been mastering the art of not sinking into the couch and long ago, I perfected this technique.”

 

“Nooo way.” Edd snorts out in an undignified manner and pretended to pray, “Oh great one, please tell this mortal the arts of not sinking into couches this deep.”

 

“No because it’s lame.” Tom chuckled, leaning back on the arm of the couch. Edd let out an indignant huff as he made an effort to roll out of the couch, with Tom watching the human in amusement. A snicker left the eyeless man’s throat when Edd tumbled out of the man-swallowing couch with Ringo in tow, looking messier than before. “Congratulation, you’ve escaped the Couch dungeon. Your loot is your cat.”

 

“Best loot ever.” Edd grins widely. Ringo mewled in confusion. “By the way are you just really light or are actually that good at not sinking into couches?”

 

Tom shrugged boredly, proceeding to slide down the couch and partially sink into the couch. “Why can’t it be both?”

 

“One day I'm making you teach me, I swear.” Edd vowed, raising a fist at Tom’s direction. He slouches back onto his backpack, before remembering his package. “Ooooh yeah, Tom!”

 

Tom just rose a brow in curiosity as Edd zipped open his backpack and took out two separate sandwiches.

 

“Mustard or mayo?” Edd asked with a mischievous glint in his eye. When Tom didn't reply, he repeated himself, “Mustard or mayo? Mustard or mayo? Mustard or may-”

 

“I'll take mayo.” Tom quickly interrupted Edd before he could continue, growing irritated at the repetition already. He swiped the mayo sandwich from Edd’s hand and took a munch out of it, licking his lips afterwards. Not bad for a mayonnaise sandwich.

 

“So how come you're living here anyway?” Edd asked curiously, taking a bite of his sandwich while eyeing Tom. “I mean you cleaned up the place well, heck it was just grey and black when I was here before.”

 

“It's the only thing that can keep a roof over my head.” Tom answered, briefly looking up at the ceiling. “Only reason I cleaned up in years was because you were coming over.”

 

“Aww you cleaned up just for me?” Edd cooed teasingly, poking his tongue at Tom and giggled when Tom visibly blushed in embarrassment.

 

“S-Shut up, the place needed some cleaning up anyway.” Tom argued indignantly, turning his nose at Edd with a huff and crossing his arms.

 

“Hah, whatever you say Tom.” Edd sniggered, reaching out to pat Tom’s head lightly. If he hadn’t been half occupied with letting the giggles take ahold of him, he would’ve noticed Tom freezing at the contact before just leaning ever so little into it-

 

It takes Tom a second to realise that Edd’s warm hand is pressed against his head and he promptly tucks his head back away from the hand as subtle as he can manage, suppressing the desire to continue the long lost contact. He didn’t want to deal with the strange touchy contact schtick Edd somehow has going on with him, at least not while the brunette was still here. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally drive off the only person who could actually tolerate his existence and make him laugh above that. The other last thing he wanted to do was also make a huge deal out of something so miniscule and make Edd worry.

 

Yeah, Tom really would prefer to avoid trouble in any ways possible.

 

The eyeless boy blinked out of his thinking moment when Edd suddenly stood up and brushed off the old dust on his clothes. “Hey Tom, I’ve been thinking…”

 

“About what?” Tom questioned, slowly rising back up from the depth of the couch and pulling himself to the arm rest.

 

“Well yesterday you said stuff about people not coming in here because of the shadow patch upstairs right?” Edd wondered and Tom replies with a nod, “Doesn’t it make you lonely here though?”

 

“A bit. I’m used to it though.” Tom answered passively, waving one finger up lazily and pointed at himself. “It’s always just been me since forever, except for the idiots who come to break stuffs. Can’t really call them good company.” Tom spies Edd frowning with concern in his eyes in the corner of his view, and furrows his brows at the brunette. “Well until you came along. Kept me company for yesterday and today.”

 

The frown on Edd’s face lightens up a bit but it’s still there. “Still, what if I’m not around?”

 

“Then I’m by myself again, simple as that. Waste another day of doing absolutely nothing.” Tom said apathetically, turning his head to look at Edd quizzingly. “What’s with the questions Edd? Are you moving away or something?”

 

It was faint but there was a hint of sorrow in Tom’s voice that Edd didn’t fail to notice. The brunette shook his head, quickly fixing his face up with a grin. “Not at all Tom, you’d have to try harder than that to get rid of me.” The confusion on Tom’s face only increases at Edd’s answer.

 

“I was wondering that if maybe you’d wanna come hang out with another one of my friend.” Edd continued, taking out his phone and pressing a couple buttons until a photo of a smiling ginger filled the screen. He flipped the phone to show Tom and let the eyeless boy stare at the photo. “His name is Matt and he’s one of my closest friend. We were planning to go have a sleepover at my place, but I’m pretty sure my mom won’t mind if I bring you over.”

 

Tom stared at the photo boredly, giving the ginger a quick lookover. He sure did have a heck of a square chin, it reminded him of a stone block. The grin on his face though looked rather familiar to the eyeless boy, where had he seen that before? He lowered  the phone down from his face and clicked his tongue, “I don’t know Edd, I tend to break things wherever I go.”

“If you’re worried about breaking things, it’s alright! We don’t really have much valuables in the house, and Matt often breaks things anyway.” Edd quickly assures, a hopeful smile on his face just reaching his cheeks. “So… Would you like to come?”

 

Tom nervously glanced at the boarded up window, biting his lips and passed the phone back to its owner. Edd was still smiling with that bright hope, a hand outstretched in his direction. All it would take was one word to either make that smile get brighter… or disappear in a flash.

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Tom?” Edd blinked but Tom isn’t there anymore. The eyeless boy who was just sitting on the couch no less than a second ago was gone. “Tom, where’d you go?”

 

Only Ringo’s meowls answered Edd.

 

* * *

 

Edd sighed unhappily as he flopped on his bed, Matt following him closely. After Tom’s abrupt disappearance, Edd had investigated the eyeless boy’s house inside out to look for him. He kept calling out Tom’s name until his voice got raw from constant use and eventually not even Ringo could cough out a meow. Despite all that, he didn’t see a trace of Tom after that.

 

Remembering that fact now just further sunk his mood and he expressed it by groaning in defeat into the blanket, muffling the noise.

 

“What’s wrong Edd? You’re usually not this down.” Matt observed with a concerned tone, his brows furrowing at the sight.

 

Edd let out a muffled sigh, pushing his face up on the blanket and looked at Matt. “You know anybody called Tom, Matt?”

 

“Nope, who’s that?” Matt shook his head, curiously staring at Edd now. The ginger was much more of a social butterfly than Edd, as he knew almost everyone in the neighborhood.

 

“He a guy who lives in this really rundown house and helped me find Ringo yesterday.” Edd explained, flipping on his back to sit up on his bed. “Earlier today I asked if he wanted to join our sleepover but he said he couldn’t, that he’d break things instead. I tried again, but then he disappeared all the sudden and I haven’t seen him since.”

 

“Come on now, I’m sure he isn’t that upset at you for wanting to come over. He sounds like a nice guy.” Matt assured, patting Edd on the head and earning himself a whine from the brunette. “He’s probably just being a shy guy. Can’t handle my dashing good looks.”

 

“I dunno Matt, he looked pretty bored when I showed him a photo of you.” Edd sniggered, a grin growing on his face.

 

“He wouldn’t! No one can resist my handsome face.” Matt insisted with a giggle, “I bet if he sees it with his own eyes, he’ll be wowed!”

 

“Hehe yeah, if he had any.” Edd snorted amusedly, only to gain a confused look from Matt. “Tom doesn’t have any eyes. I think he can still though.”

 

“Think he can still see without eyes? How does that even make sense?” Matt asked puzzledly.

 

“.. I’m not sure actually. I should ask him tomorrow.” Edd mused to himself before pausing. “If I see him. Hopefully he won’t go all ghost on me then.”

 

“If you’re worried about not seeing him tomorrow, why not today?” The ginger suggested curiously, exchanging glances with Edd before two light bulbs simultaneously lit up in their head.

Edd glanced at the clock. It was 1 am currently. Tom wouldn't a late night visit, wouldn't he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well what do you know, I'm actually bothering to write out the third chapter already. Hope you had enjoyed yourself with this part, I hit a stump somewhere with the question area so I mainly just word vomited again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom needs to fix his door like seriously

There’s nothing more refreshing than walking out of the house at 1:30 AM in the morning with your best friend in tow and heading for a dilapidated building that anyone could mistake as for a haunted house under the white moonlight. 

Edd is starting to hate past Edd already. 

“I should really stop.” Edd said bluntly, staring at Tom’s house which was just visible under the moonlight. “I really should.”

“Stop what?” Matt asked quizzingly, raising his brows at Edd in curiosity while slipping his hands into the pockets of his green overcoat. 

“Making bad decisions.” The brunette replied flatly, giving Matt a look and tucking his chin into his green hoodie to shield his face from the cold breeze. “Like going outside late in the night where it’s cold, because I want to ask Tom about his eyes and also get him to finally meet you.”

“Hey, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea, getting him to meet me.” Matt cheerfully comments, puffing out his chest with pride. “People can’t get enough of this handsome mug.”

“Except Tom maybe.” The brunette brings up, sniggering quietly under the fabric as the two made their way to the front door. Edd raises his fist up to the old wood and lightly raps his knuckle against the door. A few seconds past and there was no noise on the other side, causing Edd to frown. He knocked his knuckles on the door slightly harder this time, leaning in to peer through the keyhole and predictably saw nothing but the dark.

“Well, what do you see?” Matt enquires when he saw Edd peaking through the rusted keyhole. 

“Literally just darkness.” Edd answered quickly, standing back upright again and scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “You know I’m pretty sure he’s already asleep by this time. I mean, we left the house around 1 o’clock. Most people are asleep around this time right?”

“Oh come on Edd, you can’t back down now. We’re already here anyway.” Matt chuckled, patting Edd on the back in some way of encouraging the brunette. “Might as well let me see this Tom fellow you were talking about all night.” 

The artist opened his mouth to retort that no, he definitely didn’t talk about Tom all night when the door creaked open. “Tom hey- Huh?” Edd’s brows furrowed in confusion when there was no sign of Tom anywhere behind the door. Almost like the door had opened on its own accord, which practically screamed haunted house at the duo. 

“Hi Tom!” Matt cheerfully greeted.

“Um Matt, he’s not here.” Edd pointed out awkwardly, shooting Matt a look before slowly stepping through the door, taking out a flashlight out of his pocket. He shined the light across the living room, Matt following the brunette closely behind. The lounge was still as he remembered it, although something felt different about the room this time. He shined the light at the bookshelves and TV,- they were still in the same place and looked no different to last time. Then the couch-

“Is that a teddy bear?” Edd wondered out loud, walking up to the couch and keeping his light on the little plush toy sitting on the cushion. Gingerly picking up the toy with his fingers, Edd ran his eyes all over the bear and noticed that it lacked any eyes. Where bears usually had eyes, there was only a single line that Edd could describe as a unibrow and the top of its head was brushed up like hair. It was also quite old, judging from the fur on its right half of its face worn off and its right arm crudely stitched back on.  

“Oh my gosh is that a Tomee bear!?” Matt squealed, his voice overflowing with excitement and plucked the bear out of Edd’s hand. “This is just exactly what I’ve been missing from my novelty toy collection, you can’t find a single store that sells these anymore.”

“Tomee bear?” Edd repeats with a chuckle, immediately thinking of Tom at the similarity in name. 

“Yeah, only a few are around because they weren’t as popular when they came out years ago” Matt continued, closely examining the toy in his hand, and turning it this and there. “The only ones you can get are sold at really high prices and they’re by other collectors too. Edd you should’ve told me there was a Tomee bear here.”

“Hey, it’s not like I knew either.” Edd shot back, raising the flashlight up to the Tomee Bear and noticed a tag attached to its behind. “Hey, what’s that?”

“What’s what?” The ginger repeated, turning the bear around to find the tag and spotted the small frayed cloth. He squinted his eyes to examine the tag more closely and began to read out the faded letters on it, “T..O? The rest of it is gone.”

“Maybe it belongs to Tom.” Edd suggested, hovering beside Matt. “Since this is his house. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had something that old. He’s got an antique TV too, like the ones my grandma has.”

Matt hums in thought, “Hope he lets me keep it. I definitely need this for my novelty collection.”

“You and your novelty collection.” Edd sighed and shook his head exasperatedly. “Compared to the first time I came here, your room is way worse. At least there was some walking space here.”

“Oh hush, it’s not that cluttered.” Matt shushed with one of his charming grins, and all Edd can do is snort back at him and give him a look that practically said ‘I beg to differ’. “Anyway, this Tim guy is still nowhere to be seen. Where’s he?”

“I already said that he’s probably asleep.” The brunette shrugged, shining his flashlight at the old rickety staircase. “I mean, we could check upstairs and see if he’s sleeping up there but that’d be kind of creepy, right? I mean, just imagine the first thing you wake up to is people all over your face. I’d be in a panic.”

“And I’d punch your faces in.” A third voice suddenly chimed in, eliciting simultaneous startled screams from Edd and Matt. Edd quickly spun around on his heel and raised his flashlight up to the top of the stairs where a familiar boy stood, lazily leaning against the derelict rails that didn’t creak under his weight. 

“Tom!” Edd recognised the eyeless boy and let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Don’t scare me like that! You could’ve given me a heart attack.”

“You two are way too noisy, you know that?” Tom complained, scratching his head and yawning into his mouth. “Talking so loud and screaming like kids, bet you guys could wake up the dead with just your voice.” His head turned just by the slightest in Matt’s direction and rose a brow. “Isn’t this the guy from the picture you showed me yesterday?

Matt had been staring at Tom’s empty eye sockets in fascination, slowly walking up the male before sending him one of the brightest smile and grabbing a hold of Tom’s shoulders. “Well hi there, I’m Matt! Edd told me about you all night you know, Tim and he wasn’t kidding about having no eyes. Here I thought it would be creepy but you actually look pretty nice!” He paused for a beat. “Well not as nice as I am.”

“Um… Thanks?” Tom replied slowly, sockets widened slightly out of surprise from the abrupt contact and wiggled out of Matt’s grip. There was a twinge of something on Tom’s face that Edd couldn’t quite identify but the expression of neutrality quickly took over the eyeless boy’s face.  “The hell you guys doing over here at this time of night anyway?”

“Aren’t you going to ask about how we got in here?” Edd asked back, shining his flashlight to the closed front door. 

The boy in the blue hoodie only shrugged back in response, a flicker of annoyance in his bored expression and clicked his tongue. “Yeah well when you have people breaking in here on a daily basis, thinking this is some haunted house, I figured that there’s no point to fix the door anymore.”

“You sleep with an unlocked door?” Edd enquired, bemusement on his face. 

“Relax Edd, I know how to kick ass in my sleep.” Tom assured with a cocky smirk, “Anyway, still haven’t answered my question Edd. What’re you guys doing over here? Trying to scare each other with a run down house?” 

“Oh well uh…” Edd trailed off, gulping inwardly. “I just-”

“We figured that since you couldn’t come over for some odd reason you wouldn’t tell Edd, why not have a sleepover at your place!” Matt helpfully pitches in, smiling excitedly at Tom. “And also ask about why you can see without your eyes.”

Tom’s only response was to raise his brows slowly at the duo. “Really?”

* * *

 

Plane rides had never been so boring and he’s never been more than relieved to finally touch solid ground again. Tord swears his legs felt like jelly after not moving for an indiscernible amount of time and his knees hits the floor quicker than his hands. 

“Come on kid, we haven’t even left the airport yet and you’re already crawling the ground.” One of his guardian Paul chuckled amusedly, patting Tord on the back gently. “Still got lots of driving to do so you’re going to have to prepare your ass for more sitting.” The thick browed man can only watch in amusement at the predicted groan of despair. 

“Look on the bright side, you get to stretch your legs out while grabbing our luggages from the conveyor belt.” His other guardian Patryck reminded with the cheery tone that made the Norwegian want to pout like he did way back in the past. 

Not like he still doesn’t do it of course, but just to a less frequency. 

The light hearted tune signalling a flight announcement has never felt so nostalgic to him since the day he left this country. He still remembers that day, his solemn expression and hugging the people he considered friends for a farewell that seemed like his last. He still wished that his best friend was among the ones he said goodbye to. 

Tord tucks his hands in his red hoodie’s pocket, whistling to himself a marching tune while Patryck was waiting for their luggage to come around on the conveyor belt and Paul wandered off to get their rental car. He wonder how much has the town changed since he left and thinks about the arcade that was being built way back then. How much has his friends changed? How many of them were left here? 

So many catching up to do and not enough energy. At least for now. 

Tord lets out an exhausted yawn as Patryck comes waltzing back with their luggages in tow. 

“Aww, looks like someone didn’t sleep enough on the plane.” The man teases, setting their possession in a luggage trolley and grinning at Tord. 

“I’m not tired, just thinking.” Tord retorted, sticking his tongue out at Patryck. 

“This was where you went years ago, right?” Patryck asked curiously, pushing the trolley next to Tord as they made their way to the airport’s entrance. “Ten years ago when you came into our care. You were so small back then, you gremlin.”

“Now I’m taller than you so who’s the gremlin now?” Tord grinned back amusedly before shifting to a wistful look. “I wonder how my old friends have been doing. I haven’t spoken to them in so long.”

“Well I’m sure once the school year starts again, they’ll be eager to welcome you again.” Patryck assured, reaching out to pat Tord on the back again. “They must’ve missed you, all of them.”

The corner of Tord’s lip curves just a bit to smile. “I missed them too.” 

He had missed them all. His best friend included. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the lateness in this chapter. I was deciding on what path would the story take and had to write the dang thing like 4 times over, but it's finally out in poor quality. I thank you all for your comments and patience.


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